I think a bigger/stronger hub motor or mid-drives with a torque sensor and good tuning are close to perfect. That is, if you define perfect to feeling like a normal bike just going much faster at the same effort. I wonder if people who think throttles are best have ridden a good PAS bike? A cadence based PAS is more of an on/off switch than a pedal assist IMO.

I have a throttle on my Cross Current which also has a torque sensor. Its 350W motor is geared for high speed cruising so the bike feels sluggish below 10-15mph. The throttle acts like an override switch and allows me to apply full power off the line and during low speed climbs. It's also nice if you want to jump out into small gaps in traffic. For $50-100 option I think it's a nice option to have but it seems that many manufacturers are getting away from offering throttles on their e-bikes.